Till

[Abbreviated from lentil.] A vetch; a tare. [Prov. Eng.]

n. [A-S. tilian, to prepay, provide, seek, tell, compute.] A money-box in a shop; a drawer.

n. 1. (Geol.) A deposit of clay, sand, and gravel, without lamination, formed in a glacier valley by means of the waters derived from the melting glaciers; — sometimes applied to alluvium of an upper river terrace, when not laminated, and appearing as if formed in the same manner. Dana.

2Sense 2. A kind of coarse, obdurate land. Loudon.

[A-S. til, probably accusative of til, till, an end, object, station, O. H. Ger. zil, N. H. Ger. ziel, end, limit, object; O. Fries. til, thil, Icel. & Dan. til, Sw. till, til. This word in Sw. & Dan., as in Scottish, signifies to or at, and is the principal word used where we use to.]

1Sense 1. To the time of; until; as, I waited for him till four o'clock; I will wait till next week.

2Sense 2. Up to the time; — that is, to the time specified in the sentence or clause following.

And said unto them, Occupy till I come. Luke xix. 13.

Meditate so long till you make some act of prayer to God. Bp. Taylor.

☞ This use may be explained by supposing an ellipsis of when or the time when, the proper conjunction or conjunctive adverb being when.

3Sense 3. To, or unto; up to; — used like, or instead of, the preposition to. [Rare.]

Similar sentiments will recur to every one familiar with his writings — all through them till the very end. Prof. Wilson.

Women, up till this Cramped under worse than South-sea-isle taboo, Dwarfs of the gynecæum, fail so far In high desire, they know not, can not guess How much their welfare is a passion to us. Tennyson.

Till now, to the present time. — Till then, to that time.

v. t. [imp. & p. p. TILLED; p. pr. & vb. n. TILLING.] [A-S. tilian, teolian, O. Sax. tilian, O. Fries. tilda, L. Ger. & D. telen, O. H. Ger. zilon, zilen, N. H. Ger. zielen. Cf. TILL, n., and TOLL.] 1. To plow and prepare for seed, and to dress crops of; to cultivate. The Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. Gen. iii. 23. 2. To prepare; to get. [Obs. and rare.]